The first thing I noticed this morning when I entered the calf barn was that one of the new calves had eaten all of her grain last night for the first time. Yesterday she had eaten her hay that I had put in her manger for the first time as well. Seeing progress like that is one of the things that makes being a dairy farmer rewarding.
After 15 straight days of 95 degree temps and blazing sunshine we've finally had a cold front move in bringing our highs down to 85. It has made a big difference to me and I know it has to the cows. These long hot days are stressful on them and we had seen some reduction in milk production. The last two days the cows have all come in to be milked on their own from out of the fields for the morning milking. They have also begun eating more hay and silage. When the cows are comfortable and happy you can bet on better milk production.
We also finally got rain today. While it has been easy to put up hay when it never rains it has been hard to look at our corn in the afternoons. In the morning the corn looks nice and green but by the time the sun burns down on it later you can see the leaves twist and stretch to the sky aching for a few drops. Already we've got an inch over the course of several hours which has to be good.
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